A review by chloj_
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

review: 

first things first: i love a greek mythology retelling, and this did not disappoint. however, this is something a lot more than simply a mythology retelling. this is such an amazing reflection of womanhood. barker does such a beautiful job of relaying the female experience, with all it’s varying emotions and complexities. depictions of war are typically male dominated; blood, gore and war is so often synonymous for masculinity. while her portrayal of masculinity is complex and very well-written (particularly that of achilles), the raw vulnerability of the story’s women is breathtaking to behold. it was powerful, incredibly moving, and truly (in my opinion) a modern masterpiece.

               !!spoilers ahead!! 

  • ‘his idea of female beauty was a woman so fat if you slapped her backside in the morning she'd still be jiggling when you got back home for dinner.’ damn me too 
  • ‘she could’ve been kind to me and she wasn’t; she could’ve helped me find my feet and she didn’t.’
  • ‘when i got to the door i paused with my hand on the latch and looked back, but she’d already turned away’ 
  • the main character’s relationship with femininity is so cleverly written- both her relationship with other women, and with her own femaleness 
  • ‘but the dying man, his face wiped clean of pain, cradled his spilling intestines as gently as a mother nurses her newborn child.’
  • ‘“it’ll be alright,” i said, knowing it wouldn’t.’ 
  • ‘he fucked as quickly as he killed, and for me it was the same thing. something in me died that night.’ 
  • the emotions in this book are soooo beautiful done 
  • ‘the bed was cold.’ this one sentence is so incredibly powerful 
  • ‘no girl ever dressed more carefully for her wedding than achilles for the battlefield’
  • ‘as long as i lived and remembered, [my brothers] weren’t really dead.’
  • the relationship between briseis and iphis is SO special- it is born entirely from shared tragedy and the kindness only women can share with each other. 
  • that depiction of wasteland at the end of 46/start of 47 is SUCH a beautiful depiction of the waste of female beauty (both physical and mental) at the hands of men 
  • ‘the world began to close in around me, and i realised that the songs belonged to my brothers and not me’ 
  • ‘i always remember that she wept for me when i couldn’t weep for myself’ 
  • the list format of the people Achilles killed / how they died is SO good- it really displays how the repeated trauma and war has made tragedy something clinical.
  • ‘before leaving, he always bent down and kissed him in the mouth, though the lips had darkened and begun to retract.’ 
  • ‘Why him? Why not me? He asks the questions over and over, as if one day they might have a different answer, and the burden of guilt be lifted at last.’
  • achilles grief is written so beautifully 
  • ‘and i do what countless women before me had been forced to. i spread my legs for the man who killed my husband and brothers.’ 
  • ‘now my own story can begin’
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